Causes and results of perestroika. Changes in the economy and domestic life. Reform of the political system

Perestroika in the USSR of 1985-1991 was a massive change in the economic, political, and ideological life of the country, achieved through the introduction of radically new reforms. The goal of the reforms was the complete democratization of the political, social and economic system that developed in the Soviet Union. Today we will take a closer look at the history of Perestroika in the USSR of 1985-1991.

Stages

The main stages of Perestroika in the USSR 1985-1991:

1. March 1985 - early 1987 The slogans of this stage were the phrases: “acceleration” and “more socialism.”
2. 1987-1988 At this stage, new slogans appeared: “glasnost” and “more democracy.”
3. 1989-1990 The stage of “confusion and vacillation”. The formerly united camp of perestroika split. Political and national confrontation began to gain momentum.
4. 1990-1991 This period was marked by the collapse of socialism, the political bankruptcy of the CPSU and, as a consequence, the collapse Soviet Union.

Reasons for perestroika in the USSR

The beginning of major reforms in the Soviet Union, as a rule, is associated with the coming to power of M. S. Gorbachev. At the same time, some experts consider one of his predecessors, Yu. A. Andropov, to be the “father of Perestroika”. There is also an opinion that from 1983 to 1985, Perestroika experienced an “embryonic period” while the USSR entered the stage of reform. One way or another, due to the lack of economic incentives to work, a ruinous arms race, huge expenses for military operations in Afghanistan, and a growing lag behind the West in the field of science and technology, at the dawn of the 1990s the Soviet Union was in need of large-scale reform. The gap between the government's slogans and the real situation was huge. Distrust of communist ideology grew in society. All these facts became the reasons for Perestroika in the USSR.

The beginning of change

In March 1985, M. S. Gorbachev was elected to the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. The following month, the new leadership of the USSR proclaimed a course for the accelerated development of the country in social and economic sphere. This is where the real Perestroika began. “Glasnost” and “acceleration” will eventually become its main symbols. In society, one could increasingly hear slogans like: “we are waiting for changes.” Gorbachev also understood that changes were urgently needed by the state. Since the time of Khrushchev, he was the first General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee who did not disdain communicating with ordinary people. Traveling around the country, he went out to people to ask about their problems.

Working to implement the set course for the development and implementation of the reforms of Perestroika in the USSR of 1985-1991, the country's leadership came to the conclusion that sectors of the economy needed to be transferred to new ways of managing. From 1986 to 1989 Laws were gradually issued on state enterprises, individual labor, cooperatives, and labor conflicts. Last law provided for the right of workers to strike. As part of economic reforms, the following were introduced: state acceptance of products, economic accounting and self-financing, as well as the appointment of directors of enterprises based on the results of elections.

It is worth recognizing that all of these measures not only did not lead to the main goal of Perestroika in the USSR of 1985-1991 - positive improvements economic situation countries, and further worsened the situation. The reason for this was: the “crudeness” of the reforms, significant budget expenditure, as well as an increase in the amount of money in the hands of the ordinary population. Due to government deliveries of products, communications established between enterprises were disrupted. The shortage of consumer goods has worsened.

"Publicity"

From an economic point of view, Perestroika began with “acceleration of development.” In spiritual and political life, its main leitmotif was the so-called “glasnost”. Gorbachev said that democracy is impossible without “glasnost.” By this he meant that the people should know about all state events of the past and processes of the present. The ideas of replacing “barracks socialism” with socialism with a “human face” began to appear in journalism and statements of party ideologists. During the years of Perestroika in the USSR (1985-1991), culture began to “come to life.” The authorities have changed their attitude towards dissidents. Camps for political prisoners gradually began to close.

The policy of “glasnost” gained special momentum in 1987. The legacy of the writers of the 30-50s and the works of domestic philosophers returned to the Soviet reader. The repertoire of theater and cinematographers has expanded significantly. The processes of “glasnost” found expression in magazine and newspaper publications, as well as on television. The weekly “Moscow News” and the magazine “Ogonyok” were very popular.

Political changes

The policy of Perestroika in the USSR of 1985-1991 assumed the emancipation of society, as well as its deliverance from party tutelage. As a result, the need for political reforms was put on the agenda. The most important events in the internal political life of the USSR were: the approval of the reform of the state system, the adoption of amendments to the constitution and the adoption of the law on the election of deputies. These decisions became a step towards organizing an alternative electoral system. The Congress of People's Deputies became the highest legislative body. He nominated his representatives to the Supreme Council.

In the spring of 1989, elections of members of the Congress of People's Deputies took place. The legal opposition was included in the congress. Its chapter included: the world-famous scientist and human rights activist, Academician A. Sakharov, former secretary Moscow City Party Committee B. Yeltsin and economist G. Popov. The spread of “glasnost” and pluralism of opinions led to the creation of numerous associations, some of which were national.

Foreign policy

During the years of Perestroika, the course of the foreign policy of the Soviet Union radically changed. The government abandoned confrontation in relations with the West, stopped interfering in local conflicts and reconsidered its relations with the countries of the socialist camp. The new vector of foreign policy development was based not on the “class approach”, but on universal human values. According to Gorbachev, relations between states should have been based on maintaining a balance national interests, freedom to choose development paths in each individual state and collective responsibility countries for solving global issues.

Gorbachev was the initiator of the creation of a pan-European home. He regularly met with the rulers of America: Reagan (until 1988) and Bush (since 1989). At these meetings, politicians discussed disarmament issues. Soviet-American relations were “unfrozen.” In 1987, agreements were signed on the destruction of missiles and missile defense. In 1990, politicians signed an agreement to reduce the number of strategic weapons.

During the years of Perestroika, Gorbachev was able to establish trusting relationships with the heads of leading European states: Germany (G. Kohl), Great Britain (M. Thatcher) and France (F. Mitterrand). In 1990, participants in the Security Conference of Europe signed an agreement to reduce the number of conventional weapons in Europe. The USSR began to withdraw its soldiers from Afghanistan and Mongolia. During 1990-1991, both the political and military structures of the Warsaw Pact were dissolved. The military bloc essentially ceased to exist. The policy of “new thinking” brought fundamental changes to international relations. This was the end cold war.

National movements and political struggle

In the Soviet Union, as a multinational state, there have always been national contradictions. They gained particular momentum in times of crises (political or economic) and radical change. While building socialism, the authorities paid little attention to the historical characteristics of the peoples. Having announced the formation of the Soviet community, the government actually began to destroy the traditional economy and life of many peoples of the state. The authorities exerted particularly strong pressure on Buddhism, Islam and shamanism. Among the peoples of Western Ukraine, Moldova and the Baltic states, who joined the USSR on the eve of the Second World War, anti-socialist and anti-Soviet sentiments were very widespread.

The peoples deported during the war were greatly offended by the Soviet regime: Chechens, Crimean Tatars, Ingush, Karachais, Kalmyks, Balkars, Meskhetian Turks and others. During Perestroika in the USSR of 1985-1991, the country had historical conflicts between Georgia and Abkhazia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, and others.

The Glasnost policy gave the green light for the creation of nationalist and ethnic social movements. The most significant of them were: the “Popular Fronts” of the Baltic countries, the Armenian Karabakh Committee, the Ukrainian “Rukh” and the Russian community “Memory”. The broad masses were attracted to the opposition movement.

The strengthening of national movements, as well as opposition to the Union Center and the power of the Communist Party, became the determining factor in the crisis of the “tops”. Back in 1988, tragic events unfolded in Nagorno-Karabakh. For the first time since the civil war, demonstrations took place under nationalist slogans. Following them, pogroms occurred in Azerbaijani Sumgait and Uzbek Fergana. The apogee of national discontent was the armed clashes in Karabakh.

In November 1988, the Supreme Council of Estonia proclaimed the supremacy of republican law over the national law. The following year, the Verkhovna Rada of Azerbaijan proclaimed the sovereignty of its republic, and the Armenian Social Movement began to advocate for the independence of Armenia and its separation from the Soviet Union. At the end of 1989, the Communist Party of Lithuania declared its independence.

Elections of 1990

During the 1990 election campaign, the confrontation between the party apparatus and opposition forces was pronounced. The opposition received the Democratic Russia electoral bloc, which became nothing more than an organizational center for it, and later turned into a social movement. In February 1990, many rallies took place, the participants of which sought to eliminate the Communist Party's monopoly on power.

The parliamentary elections in Ukraine, Belarus and the RSFSR became the first truly democratic elections. About 30% of positions in the highest legislative bodies were given to deputies with a democratic orientation. These elections became an excellent illustration of the crisis in the power of the party elite. The society demanded the abolition of Article 6 of the Constitution of the Soviet Union, which proclaimed the supremacy of the CPSU. This is how a multi-party system began to form in the USSR. The main reformers, B. Yeltsin and G. Popov, received high positions. Yeltsin became chairman of the Supreme Council, and Popov became mayor of Moscow.

The beginning of the collapse of the USSR

M. S. Gorbachev and Perestroika in the USSR of 1985-1991 are associated by many with the collapse of the Soviet Union. It all started in 1990 when national movements began to gain more and more momentum. In January, as a result of the Armenian pogroms, troops were brought into Baku. The military operation, accompanied by a large number of casualties, only temporarily distracted the public from the issue of Azerbaijan’s independence. Around the same time, Lithuanian parliamentarians voted for the independence of the republic, as a result of which Soviet troops entered Vilnius. Following Lithuania, a similar decision was made by the parliaments of Latvia and Estonia. In the summer of 1990, the Supreme Council of Russia and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted declarations of sovereignty. The following spring, independence referendums were held in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Georgia.

Autumn 1990. M. S. Gorbachev, who was elected president of the USSR at the Congress of People's Deputies, was forced to reorganize government bodies. Since then executive bodies were directly subordinate to the president. The Federation Council was established - a new advisory body, which included the heads of the union republics. Then the development and discussion of a new Union Treaty began, regulating relations between the republics of the USSR.

In March 1991, the first referendum in the history of the USSR took place, in which citizens of countries had to speak out regarding the preservation of the Soviet Union as a federation of sovereign republics. Six of the 15 union republics (Armenia, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Georgia) refused to take part in the referendum. 76% of respondents voted for preserving the USSR. At the same time, an All-Russian referendum was organized, as a result of which the post of president of the republic was introduced.

Russian presidential elections

On June 12, 1991, popular elections were held for the first president in Russian history. According to the voting results, this honorary post went to B. N. Yeltsin, who was supported by 57% of voters. So Moscow became the capital of two presidents: Russian and all-Union. Coordinating the positions of the two leaders was problematic, especially given the fact that their relations were far from the smoothest.

August putsch

By the end of the summer of 1991, the political situation in the country had greatly worsened. On August 20, after heated discussions, the leadership of nine republics agreed to sign an updated Union Treaty, which, in essence, meant a transition to a real federal state. A number of government structures of the USSR were eliminated or replaced with new ones.

The party and state leadership, believing that only decisive measures would lead to the preservation of the political positions of the Communist Party and stopping the collapse of the USSR, resorted to forceful methods of control. On the night of August 18-19, when the President of the USSR was on vacation in Crimea, they formed the State Emergency Committee (GKChP). The newly formed committee declared a state of emergency in some areas of the country; announced the disbandment of power structures that violate the 1977 Constitution; interfered with the activities of opposition structures; banned meetings, demonstrations and rallies; took tight control of the media; and finally sent troops into Moscow. A.I. Lukyanov, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union, supported the State Emergency Committee, although he himself was not a member of it.

B. Yeltsin, together with the Russian leadership, led the resistance to the CGPP. In their appeal to the people, they called on them not to obey the illegal decisions of the committee, interpreting its actions as nothing other than an anti-constitutional coup. Yeltsin was supported by more than 70% of Muscovites, as well as residents of a number of other regions. Tens of thousands of peaceful Russians, expressing support for Yeltsin, were ready to take up arms in defense of the Kremlin. Fearing the outbreak of a civil war, the State Emergency Committee, after three days of confrontation, began to withdraw troops from the capital. On August 21, committee members were arrested.

The Russian leadership used the August putsch to defeat the CPSU. Yeltsin issued a decree according to which the party must suspend its activities in Russia. The property of the Communist Party was nationalized and funds were seized. The liberals who came to power in the central part of the country took away the levers of control over the security forces and the media from the leadership of the CPSU. Gorbachev's presidency was only formal. The majority of the republics refused to conclude the Union Treaty after the August events. Nobody thought about “glasnost” and “acceleration” of Perestroika. The question of the future fate of the USSR was on the agenda.

Final disintegration

In the last months of 1991, the Soviet Union finally collapsed. The Congress of People's Deputies was dissolved, the Supreme Council was radically reformed, most of the union ministries were liquidated, and instead of the Cabinet of Ministers, an inter-republican economic committee was created. The State Council of the USSR, which included the President of the Soviet Union and the heads of the union republics, became the highest body for managing domestic and foreign policy. The first decision of the State Council was to recognize the independence of the Baltic countries.

On December 1, 1991, a referendum was held in Ukraine. More than 80% of respondents were in favor of state independence. As a result, Ukraine also decided not to sign the Union Treaty.

On December 7-8, 1991, B. N. Yeltsin, L. M. Kravchuk and S. S. Shushkevich met in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. As a result of the negotiations, politicians announced the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the formation of the CIS (Union of Independent States). At first, only Russia, Ukraine and Belarus joined the CIS, but later all states that were previously part of the Soviet Union, except the Baltic states, joined it.

Results of Perestroika in the USSR 1985-1991

Despite the fact that Perestroika ended disastrously, a number of major changes It nevertheless brought it into the life of the USSR, and then of its individual republics.

Positive results of perestroika:

1. The victims of Stalinism were completely rehabilitated.
2. Such a concept as freedom of speech and views appeared, and censorship became less strict.
3. The one-party system was eliminated.
4. There is now the possibility of unhindered entry/exit into/from the country.
5. Military service for students undergoing training was cancelled.
6. Women are no longer jailed for adultery.
7. Rock was allowed.
8. The Cold War formally ended.

Of course, Perestroika in the USSR of 1985-1991 also had negative consequences.

Here are just the main ones:

1. The country's gold and foreign exchange reserves decreased by 10 times, which caused hyperinflation.
2. The country's international debt has at least tripled.
3. The rate of economic growth of the country fell almost to zero - the state simply froze.

Well, the main negative result of Perestroika in the USSR 1985-1991. - collapse of the USSR.

PREREQUISITES AND THE BEGINNING OF "PERESTROYKA"

Prerequisites for radical changes. Towards the end of his life, Brezhnev increasingly began to delegate issues to government controlled to his closest associates - the head of the KGB, Yu. V. Andropov, the Minister of Defense D. F. Ustinov, the Secretary of the Central Committee K. U. Chernenko and the Minister of Foreign Affairs A. A. Gromyko. In the conditions of the almost constant absence of the fading leader from the workplace, all key decisions were made by these people with the tacit consent of other members of the Politburo.

The lack of economic incentives to work, the ruinous arms race, the enormous costs of the war in Afghanistan, and the growing lag behind the West in the scientific and technical sphere made it necessary to carry out economic reforms.

The gap between official slogans and the real life of Soviet people, the growing distrust of communist ideology, the decline in living standards, and the lack of basic food products were in no way consistent with the promise of the CPSU Program to build communism in the USSR by 1980.

War in Afghanistan and United States deployment nuclear missiles medium-range weapons in Western Europe finally ended the period of détente in international tension. The threat of world war has increased significantly.

All this caused discontent and anxiety in Soviet society. State leaders needed to seriously adjust both domestic and foreign policies.

The beginning of change. Yu. V. Andropov, who came to power after Brezhnev’s death in November 1982, was a typical representative of “enlightened totalitarianism.” He was widely educated and naturally endowed with those qualities that attracted people to him. Possessing an extraordinary mind and political talent, Andropov was one of the few top leaders in the country known for his modesty, personal unselfishness, even asceticism. He knew how to win over his interlocutor; wrote beautiful lyrical poems. All this did not prevent him from being a typical representative of the galaxy of leaders brought up on Marxist-Leninist dogmas. Andropov was a very tough person for whom there could be no concessions on issues of principle. At the same time, like many other representatives of his generation, despite the ability to think independently, he was sometimes unsure of himself and even fearful in solving a number of political problems. This, apparently, was the main explanation for the ease and speed with which Andropov could make quite serious compromises. Having a good understanding of people, he nevertheless surrounded himself with far from the most honest and capable of them. This was most often justified by the same tactical considerations and compromises.

The most odious figures were removed from the Central Committee under Andropov. The first wave of top-level personnel renewal has begun. Among the Politburo members who strengthened their positions under Andropov was M. S. Gorbachev. However, while taking measures to establish basic order and eradicate corruption, Andropov spoke from the position of preserving and updating the system, advocating nothing more than cleansing it of abuses and costs that were visible to everyone. This approach quite suited the nomenklatura, which it gave a chance to maintain their previous positions. The leitmotif of the changes and moderate reforms undertaken by Andropov was the motto: “You can’t live like that!”

Having come to power as a completely sick man, Andropov managed to arouse great trust and respect among the people and left behind himself the reputation of a reformer. In one of his first speeches, he honestly admitted the existence of many unresolved problems.

In February 1984, Yu. V. Andropov died, and 73-year-old K. U. Chernenko became the head of the CPSU and the country. The man is old and sick, he spent most of his time on treatment or rest. Despite the fact that, in general, Andropov’s course towards cleansing and saving the system continued, short reign Chernenko did not slow down, but, on the contrary, accelerated her agony and collapse.

The course towards "acceleration of social economic development" countries. M. S. Gorbachev was born in 1931 into a rural family in the Stavropol region. At the age of 15, he began his career as an MTS machine operator. In 1955 he entered the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University. A real shock for the young student was the debunking of Stalin’s “cult of personality” at the 20th Congress of the CPSU. True, Gorbachev did not yet think about criticizing the system itself. After graduating from Moscow State University, he moved to Komsomol and then to party work. In 1970, Gorbachev became secretary of the Stavropol regional party committee and a year later was elected to the CPSU Central Committee. He owed his career not only to his personal qualities (dedication, assertiveness, high efficiency), but also to the support of his former boss and mentor - member of the Politburo and Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee for Agriculture F. D. Kulakov. After his sudden death in 1978, according to the unwritten laws of party and nomenklatura movements, it was Gorbachev who was appointed to the post of Secretary of the Central Committee for Agriculture. From that moment his path to the position of leader of the country began. In 1980, he became the youngest member of the Politburo. On behalf of Andropov, Gorbachev dealt not only with agriculture, but also with a wide range of issues of domestic and foreign policy. Andropov's death made him virtually the second person in the party and the inevitable candidate for the post of General Secretary.

After the death of the elderly leader in March 1985, Gorbachev was unanimously elected General Secretary of the Central Committee, at the same time becoming Chairman of the Defense Council, and proclaimed the beginning of “perestroika.”

Unanimous support was given to him by senior party leaders because, on the one hand, the need for change was obvious to them, and on the other, they rightly believed that Andropov’s nominee would continue the line he had begun. At first, Gorbachev himself thought this way. At the April (1985) plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, he put forward the task of “accelerating the socio-economic development of the country.” He intended to solve it by not only strengthening discipline, but also developing new forms of labor, relying on the “human factor.”

Anti-alcohol campaign. The first practical step of the new leadership in renovating society was the fight against drunkenness and alcoholism that began in May 1985. It was planned to halve the production of alcohol within five years, as well as to reduce the network of stores selling these products by almost 15 times. These indicators, however, as during other campaigns, were achieved much earlier - in just a year. The authorities noted with satisfaction the “improved lifestyle” of the Soviet people, citing a reduction in the production and sale of vodka and wine.

In fact, the consequences of the anti-alcohol campaign caused enormous harm to everyone - both the state and the population. During the first three years of this campaign, the state budget lost almost 67 billion rubles (about $111.6 billion at the official exchange rate). The reduction in alcohol production by 80% made up for underground moonshine. Sugar supplies were sharply reduced, for which coupons were even introduced. Unique vineyards were cut down in the southern regions of the country. The number of drug addicts and substance abusers among young people has increased by 2.5 times.

It soon became clear that the campaign had failed. This was the first major defeat course of Gorbachev, who in endless queues for wine began to be called the “mineral secretary”.

"New edition" of the party program. In the absence of economic incentives to work, the authorities sought to awaken in people the desire to participate in changing society. And this required updating the dilapidated party ideology.

In 1986, the next, XXVII Congress of the CPSU took place. Among traditional issues, he considered the project " new edition" of the party program. More than 20 million took part in its discussion, and changes to the text itself were proposed by more than 6 million people.

The task of building communism was declared “untimely” and assigned to an indefinite period (essentially removed). The main party task was now “improving socialism.” Party guidelines also became more general and non-specific. The only concrete provision was the promise to provide separate apartments to all Soviet families by the year 2000. It was also intended to develop the functions of labor collectives as “primary cells of direct democracy.” But how it was possible to do this while maintaining the traditional economic system (based on their lack of rights) remained unclear. The task of technical reconstruction of the economy and its transfer to an intensive track was proclaimed. But no one explained how and what needed to be done for this. For the first time, the task of “expanding openness” in the life of society and developing democratic institutions was set.

Nevertheless, it was in the draft of the new edition of the party program that the first attempt was made to formulate the very direction of the changes that Gorbachev was going to implement.

What you need to know about this topic:

Socio-economic and political development of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Nicholas II.

Domestic policy tsarism. Nicholas II. Increased repression. "Police Socialism"

Russo-Japanese War. Reasons, progress, results.

Revolution 1905 - 1907 Character, driving forces and features of the Russian revolution of 1905-1907. stages of the revolution. The reasons for the defeat and the significance of the revolution.

Elections to the State Duma. I State Duma. The agrarian question in the Duma. Dispersal of the Duma. II State Duma. Coup d'etat of June 3, 1907

Third June political system. Electoral law June 3, 1907 III State Duma. The alignment of political forces in the Duma. Activities of the Duma. Government terror. Decline of the labor movement in 1907-1910.

Stolypin agrarian reform.

IV State Duma. Party composition and Duma factions. Activities of the Duma.

Political crisis in Russia on the eve of the war. Labor movement in the summer of 1914. Crisis at the top.

International position of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.

The beginning of the First World War. Origin and nature of the war. Russia's entry into the war. Attitude to the war of parties and classes.

Progress of military operations. Strategic forces and plans of the parties. Results of the war. The role of the Eastern Front in the First World War.

The Russian economy during the First World War.

Worker and peasant movement in 1915-1916. Revolutionary movement in the army and navy. The growth of anti-war sentiment. Formation of the bourgeois opposition.

Russian culture of the 19th - early 20th centuries.

The aggravation of socio-political contradictions in the country in January-February 1917. The beginning, prerequisites and nature of the revolution. Uprising in Petrograd. Formation of the Petrograd Soviet. Interim Committee State Duma. Order N I. Formation of the Provisional Government. Abdication of Nicholas II. The reasons for the emergence of dual power and its essence. The February revolution in Moscow, at the front, in the provinces.

From February to October. The policy of the Provisional Government regarding war and peace, on agrarian, national, and labor issues. Relations between the Provisional Government and the Soviets. Arrival of V.I. Lenin in Petrograd.

Political parties (Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Bolsheviks): political programs, influence among the masses.

Crises of the Provisional Government. Attempted military coup in the country. The growth of revolutionary sentiment among the masses. Bolshevization of the capital's Soviets.

Preparation and conduct of an armed uprising in Petrograd.

II All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Decisions about power, peace, land. Formation of government and management bodies. Composition of the first Soviet government.

Victory of the armed uprising in Moscow. Government agreement with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. Elections to the Constituent Assembly, its convocation and dispersal.

The first socio-economic transformations in the fields of industry, agriculture, finance, labor and women's issues. Church and State.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, its terms and significance.

Economic tasks of the Soviet government in the spring of 1918. Aggravation of the food issue. Introduction of food dictatorship. Working food detachments. Combeds.

The revolt of the left Socialist Revolutionaries and the collapse of the two-party system in Russia.

The first Soviet Constitution.

Causes of intervention and civil war. Progress of military operations. Human and material losses during the civil war and military intervention.

Domestic policy of the Soviet leadership during the war. "War communism". GOELRO plan.

The policy of the new government regarding culture.

Foreign policy. Treaties with border countries. Russia's participation in the Genoa, Hague, Moscow and Lausanne conferences. Diplomatic recognition of the USSR by the main capitalist countries.

Domestic policy. Socio-economic and political crisis of the early 20s. Famine 1921-1922 Transition to a new economic policy. The essence of NEP. NEP in the field of agriculture, trade, industry. Financial reform. Economic recovery. Crises during the NEP period and its collapse.

Projects for the creation of the USSR. I Congress of Soviets of the USSR. The first government and the Constitution of the USSR.

Illness and death of V.I. Lenin. Intra-party struggle. The beginning of the formation of Stalin's regime.

Industrialization and collectivization. Development and implementation of the first five-year plans. Socialist competition - goal, forms, leaders.

Formation and strengthening state system economic management.

The course towards complete collectivization. Dispossession.

Results of industrialization and collectivization.

Political, national-state development in the 30s. Intra-party struggle. Political repression. Formation of the nomenklatura as a layer of managers. Stalin's regime and the USSR Constitution of 1936

Soviet culture in the 20-30s.

Foreign policy of the second half of the 20s - mid-30s.

Domestic policy. Growth of military production. Emergency measures in the field of labor legislation. Measures to solve the grain problem. Armed forces. The growth of the Red Army. Military reform. Repressions against the command cadres of the Red Army and the Red Army.

Foreign policy. Non-aggression pact and treaty of friendship and borders between the USSR and Germany. The entry of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus into the USSR. Soviet-Finnish war. Inclusion of the Baltic republics and other territories into the USSR.

Periodization of the Great Patriotic War. The initial stage of the war. Turning the country into a military camp. Military defeats 1941-1942 and their reasons. Major military events. Surrender fascist Germany. Participation of the USSR in the war with Japan.

Soviet rear during the war.

Deportation of peoples.

Guerrilla warfare.

Human and material losses during the war.

Creation of an anti-Hitler coalition. Declaration of the United Nations. The problem of the second front. "Big Three" conferences. Problems of post-war peace settlement and comprehensive cooperation. USSR and UN.

The beginning of the Cold War. The USSR's contribution to the creation of the "socialist camp". CMEA education.

Domestic policy of the USSR in the mid-40s - early 50s. Recovery National economy.

Social and political life. Policy in the field of science and culture. Continued repression. "Leningrad affair". Campaign against cosmopolitanism. "The Doctors' Case"

Socio-economic development of Soviet society in the mid-50s - the first half of the 60s.

Socio-political development: XX Congress of the CPSU and condemnation of Stalin’s personality cult. Rehabilitation of victims of repression and deportation. Internal party struggle in the second half of the 50s.

Foreign policy: creation of the Department of Internal Affairs. Enter Soviet troops to Hungary. Exacerbation of Soviet-Chinese relations. Split of the "socialist camp". Soviet-American relations and the Cuban missile crisis. USSR and "third world" countries. Reduction in the size of the armed forces of the USSR. Moscow Treaty on the Limitation of Nuclear Tests.

USSR in the mid-60s - first half of the 80s.

Socio-economic development: economic reform of 1965

Increasing difficulties in economic development. Declining rates of socio-economic growth.

Constitution of the USSR 1977

Social and political life of the USSR in the 1970s - early 1980s.

Foreign policy: Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Consolidation of post-war borders in Europe. Moscow Treaty with Germany. Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). Soviet-American treaties of the 70s. Soviet-Chinese relations. Entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. Exacerbation of international tension and the USSR. Strengthening Soviet-American confrontation in the early 80s.

USSR in 1985-1991

Domestic policy: an attempt to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country. An attempt to reform the political system of Soviet society. Congresses of People's Deputies. Election of the President of the USSR. Multi-party system. Exacerbation of the political crisis.

Exacerbation national question. Attempts to reform the national-state structure of the USSR. Declaration of state sovereignty RSFSR. "Novoogaryovsky trial". Collapse of the USSR.

Foreign policy: Soviet-American relations and the problem of disarmament. Agreements with leading capitalist countries. Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Changing relations with the countries of the socialist community. Collapse of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact Organization.

Russian Federation in 1992-2000.

Domestic policy: “Shock therapy” in the economy: price liberalization, stages of privatization of commercial and industrial enterprises. Fall in production. Increased social tension. Growth and slowdown in financial inflation. Intensification of the struggle between the executive and legislative branches. Dissolution of the Supreme Council and the Congress of People's Deputies. October events of 1993. Abolition of local bodies of Soviet power. Elections in Federal Assembly. Constitution of the Russian Federation 1993 Formation of a presidential republic. Exacerbation and overcoming national conflicts in the North Caucasus.

Parliamentary elections of 1995. Presidential elections of 1996. Power and opposition. An attempt to return to the course of liberal reforms (spring 1997) and its failure. Financial crisis of August 1998: causes, economic and political consequences. "Second Chechen War". Parliamentary elections of 1999 and early presidential elections of 2000. Foreign policy: Russia in the CIS. Participation of Russian troops in “hot spots” of the neighboring countries: Moldova, Georgia, Tajikistan. Relations between Russia and foreign countries. Withdrawal of Russian troops from Europe and neighboring countries. Russian-American agreements. Russia and NATO. Russia and the Council of Europe. Yugoslav crises (1999-2000) and Russia’s position.

• Danilov A.A., Kosulina L.G. History of the state and peoples of Russia. XX century.

After Chernenko's death in 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. By that time, the USSR was already on the verge of a deep crisis, both in the economy and in the social sphere. The efficiency of social production was steadily declining, and the arms race was a heavy burden on the country's economy. In fact, all areas of society needed updating. The difficult situation of the USSR was the reason for perestroika, as well as changes in the country's foreign policy. Modern historians identify the following stages of perestroika:

• 1985 – 1986
• 1987 – 1988
• 1989 – 1991

During the period of the beginning of perestroika from 1985 to 1986. there were no significant changes in the organization of government of the country. In the regions, power, at least formally, belonged to the Soviets, and in top level– The Supreme Soviet of the USSR. But during this period, statements about transparency and the fight against bureaucracy were already heard. Gradually the process of rethinking began international relations. Tensions in relations between the USSR and the USA decreased significantly.

Large-scale changes began somewhat later - from the end of 1987. This period is characterized by unprecedented freedom of creativity and the development of art. Author's journalistic programs are broadcast on television, and magazines publish materials promoting the ideas of reform. At the same time, the political struggle is clearly intensifying. Serious changes are beginning in the sphere of government power. Thus, in December 1988, at the 11th extraordinary session of the Supreme Council, the law “On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution” was adopted. The law introduced changes to the electoral system, introducing the principle of alternativeness.

However, the third period of perestroika in the USSR turned out to be the most turbulent. In 1989, Soviet troops were completely withdrawn from Afghanistan. In fact, the USSR ceases to support socialist regimes on the territory of other states. The camp of socialist countries is collapsing. The most important, significant event of that period is the fall of the Berlin Wall and the unification of Germany.

The party is gradually losing real power and its unity. A fierce struggle between factions begins. Not only the current situation in the USSR is criticized, but also the very foundations of the ideology of Marxism, as well as the October Revolution of 1917. Many opposition parties and movements are being formed.

Against the backdrop of tough political struggle during this period of Gorbachev’s perestroika, a split began among the intelligentsia and among artists. If some of them were critical of the processes taking place in the country, then the other part provided full support to Gorbachev. Against the backdrop of political and social freedom unprecedented at that time, the volume of funding for both art, science, education, and many industries is significantly reduced. In such conditions, talented scientists go to work abroad, or turn into businessmen. Many research institutes and design bureaus cease to exist. The development of knowledge-intensive industries slows down and later stops altogether. Perhaps, the clearest example This could be the “Energia-Buran” project, within the framework of which a unique reusable space shuttle “Buran” was created, which made its only flight.

The financial situation of the majority of citizens is gradually deteriorating. Also, there is an aggravation of interethnic relations. Many cultural and politicians they are beginning to say that perestroika has outlived its usefulness.

The consequences of perestroika are extremely ambiguous and multifaceted. Of course, society gaining social and political freedoms, openness and reform of the planned distribution economy are positive aspects. However, the processes that took place during the period of perestroika in the USSR from 1985 to 1991 led to the collapse of the USSR and the exacerbation of smoldering for a long time interethnic conflicts. The weakening of power, both in the center and locally, a sharp decline in the standard of living of the population, undermining the scientific base, and so on. Undoubtedly, the results of perestroika and its significance will be rethought more than once by future generations.

In the mid-80s. In the USSR, radical changes took place in ideology, public consciousness, political and state organization, and profound changes began in property relations and social structure. The collapse of the communist regime and the CPSU, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the formation in its place of new independent states, including Russia itself, the emergence of ideological and political pluralism, the emergence civil society, new classes (among them the capitalist one) - these are just some of the new realities of modern Russian history, the beginning of which can be dated back to March - April 1985.

“Acceleration” strategy

IN April 1985, at the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, M.S. Gorbachev

M.S.Gorbachev

outlined the strategic course of reform. They talked about the need for a qualitative transformation of Soviet society, its “renewal,” and profound changes in all spheres of life.

The key word of the reform strategy was “ acceleration" It was supposed to accelerate the development of means of production, scientific and technological progress, the social sphere, and even the activities of party bodies.

Terms “ perestroika" And " glasnost b” appeared later. Gradually the emphasis was shifted from “acceleration” to “perestroika” and it was this word that became symbol course produced by M.S. Gorbachev in the second half of the 80s.

Publicity meant identifying all the shortcomings that impede acceleration, criticism and self-criticism of performers “from top to bottom.” A perestroika assumed the introduction of structural and organizational changes into economic, social, political mechanisms, as well as into ideology in order to achieve acceleration of social development.

To ensure the implementation of new tasks, some party and Soviet leaders were replaced. N.I. Ryzhkov was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and E.A. Shevardnadze, who had previously been the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia, was appointed Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In December 1985, B. N. Yeltsin became secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee. A. N. Yakovlev and A. I. Lukyanov were promoted to the highest party hierarchy.

In 1985, the center of economic transformations was given the task of technical re-equipment and modernization of enterprises. For this it was necessary accelerated development of mechanical engineering. This is how the main goal in the national economy was formulated. The “acceleration” program assumed advanced (1.7 times) development of mechanical engineering in relation to the entire industry and its achievement of a world level by the beginning of the 90s. The success of acceleration was associated with the active use of scientific and technological achievements, expansion of the rights of enterprises, improvement of personnel work, and strengthening of discipline at enterprises.

Meeting of M.S. Gorbachev with the workers of the Proletarsky district of Moscow. April 1985

The course proclaimed in 1985 at the April plenum was reinforced in February 1986. on XXVII Congress of the CPSU.

In the meeting room of the XXVII Congress of the CPSU. Kremlin Palace of Congresses. 1986

There were few innovations at the congress, but the main thing was support Law on Labor Collectives. The law proclaimed the creation of labor councils at all enterprises with broad powers, including the selection of management employees, regulation of wages in order to eliminate equalization and maintain social justice in wages and even determine the price of products.

At the XXVII Congress of the CPSU, promises were made to the Soviet people: to double the economic potential of the USSR by 2000, increase labor productivity by 2.5 times and provide each Soviet family with a separate apartment.

The majority of Soviet people believed the new General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee M.S. Gorbachev and enthusiastically supported him.

Course towards democratization

IN 1987. Serious adjustments to the reform course began.

Perestroika

IN political dictionary the country's leadership has changed. The word “acceleration” gradually fell out of use. New concepts have appeared, such as “ democratization”, “command and control system”, “braking mechanism”, “deformation of socialism" If previously it was assumed that Soviet socialism was fundamentally healthy, and that it was only necessary to “accelerate” its development, now the “presumption of innocence” from the Soviet socialist model was removed, and serious internal shortcomings were discovered that had to be eliminated and a new model created socialism.

IN January 1987. Gorbachev admitted the failure of the reform efforts of previous years, and saw the reason for these failures in the deformations that occurred in the USSR by the 30s.

Since it was concluded that “ deformations of socialism”, then it was supposed to eliminate these deformations and return to the socialism that was conceived by V.I. Lenin. This is how the slogan “ Back to Lenin”.

The General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee argued in his speeches that in the “deformation of socialism” there were deviations from the ideas of Leninism. Lenin's concept of the NEP gained particular popularity. Publicists started talking about the NEP as a “golden age” Soviet history, drawing analogies with the modern period of history. Economic articles on the problems of commodity-money relations, rent, and cooperation were published by P. Bunich, G. Popov, N. Shmelev, L. Abalkin. According to their concept, administrative socialism was to be replaced by economic socialism, which would be based on self-financing, self-financing, self-sufficiency, and self-government of enterprises.

But main, the central theme of perestroika times in the media became criticism of Stalin And command-administrative system generally.

This criticism was carried out much more fully and more mercilessly than in the second half of the 50s. On the pages of newspapers, magazines, and on television, revelations of Stalin's policies began, Stalin's direct personal participation in mass repressions was revealed, and the picture of the crimes of Beria, Yezhov, and Yagoda was recreated. The revelations of Stalinism were accompanied by the identification and rehabilitation of more and more tens of thousands of innocent victims of the regime.

The most famous works at this time were such works as “White Clothes” by V. Dudintsev, “Bison” by D. Granin, “Children of the Arbat” by A. Rybakov. The whole country read the magazines “New World”, “Znamya”, “October”, “Friendship of Peoples”, “Ogonyok”, where previously banned works of M. Bulgakov, B. Pasternak, V. Nabokov, V. Grossman, A. Solzhenitsyn were published , L. Zamyatina.

XIX All-Union Party Conference (June 1988)

At the end of the 80s. transformations affected the structure of state power. The new doctrine of political democracy was practically embodied in decisions XIX All-Union Party Conference, where for the first time the goal of creating a civil society in the USSR and excluding party bodies from economic management, depriving them of state functions and transferring these functions to the Soviets was proclaimed.

At the conference, a sharp struggle between supporters and opponents of perestroika unfolded over the issue of the country's development tasks. The majority of deputies supported the point of view of M.S. Gorbachev on the need for economic reform and transformation of the country's political system.

The conference approved the course to create in the country rule of law. Specific reforms of the political system were also approved, to be implemented in the near future. It was supposed to elect Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, the country's highest legislative body of 2,250 people. Moreover, two thirds of the Congress were to be elected by the population on an alternative basis, i.e. from at least two candidates, and another third of the deputies, also on an alternative basis, were elected by public organizations. The congress, convened periodically to determine legislative policy and adopt higher laws, formed from its midst The Supreme Council, which was supposed to work for permanent basis and represent the Soviet parliament.

The balance of political forces in the country began to change dramatically in the fall of 1988. The main political change was that the previously united camp of perestroika supporters began to split: radical wing, which quickly gained strength, turned into a powerful movement in 1989, and in 1990 began to decisively challenge Gorbachev’s power. The struggle between Gorbachev and the radicals for leadership in the reform process formed the main core of the next stage of perestroika, which lasted from the autumn of 1988 to July 1990.

Perestroika- the general name for the totality of political and economic changes carried out in the USSR in 1986-1991. During perestroika (from the second half of 1989 - after the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR), the political confrontation sharply intensified between the forces advocating the socialist path of development and parties and movements linking the future of the country with the organization of life on the principles of capitalism, as well as on issues of the future appearance of the Soviet Union. Union, relationships between union and republican bodies of state power and administration.

By the beginning of the 1990s, perestroika ended with an aggravation of the crisis in all spheres of society, the elimination of the power of the CPSU and the collapse of the USSR.

Term

On April 8, 1986, M. S. Gorbachev visited Togliatti, where he visited the Volzhsky Automobile Plant. At his speech in Togliatti, Gorbachev used the word “perestroika” for the first time to denote the socio-political process. The term was picked up by the media and became the slogan of the new era that had begun in the USSR. Gorbachev’s subsequently published speech was entitled “Restructure faster, act in a new way”:

1985-1989

Background

In March 1985, M. S. Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

At the April Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee in 1985, Gorbachev’s supporters became full members of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee: Secretaries of the CPSU Central Committee E.K. Ligachev and N.I. Ryzhkov, Chairman of the KGB of the USSR V.M. Chebrikov; candidate member of the Politburo - Marshal of the Soviet Union, Minister of Defense S. L. Sokolov. A “Gorbachev majority” is emerging in the Politburo.

Gorbachev's opponents were gradually removed from the Politburo: G. V. Romanov (July 1985), N. A. Tikhonov (October 1985), V. V. Grishin (December 1985), D. A. Kunaev (January 1987), G. A. Aliev (October 1987), V. I. Dolgikh (September 1988), P. N. Demichev (September 1988), M. S. Solomentsev (September 1988).

They were replaced by proteges of the new General Secretary: A. N. Yakovlev, who was one of the most staunch supporters of reforms, V. A. Medvedev, A. I. Lukyanov, B. N. Yeltsin (Yeltsin was subsequently expelled from the Politburo on February 18 1988). During 1985-1986, Gorbachev renewed the composition of the Politburo by two-thirds, 60% of the secretaries of regional committees and 40% of the members of the CPSU Central Committee were replaced.

Domestic policy

At the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee on April 23, 1985. Gorbachev announced plans for broad reforms aimed at a comprehensive renewal of society, the cornerstone of which was called “accelerating the socio-economic development of the country.”

At a Politburo meeting in April 1986, Gorbachev first announced the need to hold a Plenum on personnel issues. Only there it was possible to make a fundamental decision to change personnel policy. In June 1986, at a meeting with secretaries and heads of departments of the CPSU Central Committee, Gorbachev said: “Without a “small revolution” nothing will come of it in the party, because real power lies with the party bodies. The people will not carry around an apparatus that does nothing for perestroika.”

At the XXVII Congress of the CPSU (February-March 1986), Gorbachev stated: “The issue of expanding glasnost is of fundamental importance for us. This is a political issue. Without glasnost there is and cannot be democracy, political creativity of the masses, their participation in governance.” The media began to gain more freedom in describing existing problems. The editors-in-chief were replaced in a number of newspapers and magazines, which subsequently acted most in opposition (“New World”, “Moscow News”, “Arguments and Facts”). Since the end of 1986, previously banned literary works began to be published, and films that were on the shelves began to be shown (the first of them was Tengiz Abuladze’s film “Repentance”).

In May 1986, the V Congress of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR opened, at which the entire board of the Union was unexpectedly re-elected. According to this scenario, changes subsequently occurred in other creative unions.

On September 4, 1986, the Glavlit of the USSR issued Order No. 29c, in which censors were instructed to focus on issues related to the protection of state and military secrets in the press, and to inform party bodies only about significant violations in the ideological sphere.

By a resolution of the CPSU Central Committee of September 25, 1986, it was decided to stop jamming the broadcasts of some foreign radio stations (Voice of America, BBC) and increase the jamming of others (Svoboda, Deutsche Welle). On May 23, 1987, the Soviet Union finally stopped jamming radio programs from the Voice of America and some other Western radio stations. The jamming of foreign radio stations in the USSR was completely stopped on November 30, 1988.

In 1987, an Interdepartmental Commission headed by Glavlit of the USSR began its work, which began revising publications with the aim of transferring them from special storage departments to “open” funds.

The policy initiated by the 27th Congress was first called “perestroika” in June 1986. Now it included not only the initially proclaimed acceleration of the country's economic development, but also deeper economic, political and social reforms. The new terminology reflected the deep and comprehensive nature of the changes that had begun.

Despite the individual steps mentioned, there were no serious changes in the life of the country in 1985-86. did not have. The starting point for truly radical reforms should be considered the Plenum on personnel issues, held in January 1987. Its preparation began in the fall of 1986. After much debate and agreement, the final text of Gorbachev’s report at the Plenum included a statement about the need for elections across the entire party vertical from several candidates (the usual practice was to approve candidates proposed from above). In addition, it was stated that party functionaries are obliged to systematically report on the work they have done to those who elected them.

On January 27, 1987, the long-prepared Plenum opened. Gorbachev made a report “On perestroika and personnel policy of the party.” It identified the following areas:

• the beginning of the transformation of the CPSU from government structure into a real political party (“We must resolutely abandon administrative functions that are unusual for party bodies”);

• promotion of non-partisans to leadership positions;

• expansion of “intra-party democracy”;

• changing the functions and role of the Soviets, they were supposed to become “genuine authorities on their territory”;

• holding elections to the Soviets on an alternative basis (elections since 1918 have been a vote for a single candidate for each seat).

Alternative elections to local Soviets took place in the summer of 1987 in many electoral districts, for the first time in the history of the USSR.

In Gorbachev’s speech at the January Plenum, a lot of space was also devoted to publicity. At the same time, he stated that “the time has come to begin developing legal acts that guarantee transparency.” He said: “We should not have areas closed to criticism. The people need the whole truth... We need more light now, more than ever, so that the party and the people know everything, so that we don’t have dark corners where mold would grow again.”

On January 23, 1988, the Pravda newspaper published an article by V. Ovcharenko, “Cobras over Gold,” which presented materials from an investigative team that had been investigating the so-called Cotton Case in Uzbekistan since 1983. Moreover, we were not talking about ordinary cotton growers, but about the highest elite of the party and state leadership of the republic. The article in Pravda became a signal for other Soviet newspapers. There is practically not a single newspaper left, both in the center and locally, that does not expose the corruption of the local party leadership.

In December 1986, A.D. Sakharov and his wife E.G. Bonner were released from exile in Gorky. In February 1987, 140 dissidents were released from prison by pardon. They immediately became involved in public life. The scattered, small dissident movement, which ended its active existence in 1983, was revived again under the slogans of the democratic movement. Several dozen informal, gradually politicized, weakly organized organizations appeared (the most famous of them was the Democratic Union formed in May 1988, which held two anti-communist rallies in Moscow in August-September 1988), the first independent newspapers and magazines.

In 1987-1988, such previously unpublished and banned works as “Children of Arbat” by A. N. Rybakov, “Life and Fate” by V. S. Grossman, “Requiem” by A. A. Akhmatova, “Sofya Petrovna” by L. were published. K. Chukovskaya, “Doctor Zhivago” by B. L. Pasternak.

In 1987, the first non-state television associations were created, such as NIKA-TV (Independent Television Information Channel) and ATV (Association of Authors' Television). As a counterbalance to the dry, official program “Vremya”, nightly editions of TSN appeared. The leaders in this regard were youth programs“12th Floor” and “Vzglyad”, programs of Leningrad Television.

In 1987, in the film by Sergei Solovyov “Assa”, the song of the rock group “Kino” appears, “We are waiting for changes” to the words of Viktor Tsoi, which became a kind of unofficial anthem of the times of perestroika.

The most important event of 1988 was the XIX All-Union Party Conference of the CPSU, held in June-July. For the first time since the 1920s, delegates actually expressed independent opinions, sometimes allowing themselves to criticize the actions of the party leadership, and this was broadcast on television. The conference, on Gorbachev’s initiative, decided to reform the political system. A fundamental decision was made on alternative elections of deputies to Soviets at all levels. Everyone should have the opportunity to be nominated as candidates.

But at the same time, measures were outlined to preserve the role of the CPSU in the country. Previously, the supreme body of legislative power was the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, elected by the population in territorial and national-territorial districts. Now the Supreme Council was to be elected by the Congress of People's Deputies, ? who in turn were to be elected by the population. The remaining 750 people were to be elected by “public organizations,” with the largest number of deputies chosen by the CPSU. This reform was formalized into law at the end of 1988.

The party conference also decided to combine the positions of the head of the party committee and the chairman of the Council at the appropriate level. Since this leader was elected by the population, such an innovation was supposed to bring energetic and practical people to leadership positions in the party, capable of solving local problems, and not just dealing with ideology.

Nationalism and separatism

Conflict in Almaty

In December 1986, after the Kazakh D. Kunaev was removed from the post of first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan and the Russian G. Kolbin was appointed in his place, riots occurred in Almaty. Demonstrations of Kazakh youth who opposed Kolbin (since he had nothing to do with Kazakhstan) were suppressed by the authorities.

Azerbaijan and Armenia

In August 1987, Armenians living in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of the Azerbaijan SSR and constituting the majority of the population in this autonomous region sent to Moscow a petition signed by tens of thousands of people to transfer the autonomous region to the Armenian SSR. In October 1987, protest demonstrations took place in Yerevan against incidents with the Armenian population of the village of Chardakhlu, north of Nagorno-Karabakh, where the First Secretary of the Shamkhor District Committee of the CPSU M. Asadov came into conflict with the village residents in connection with their protests against the replacement of the director of the state farm. Armenian by Azerbaijani. Adviser to Mikhail Gorbachev Abel Aganbegyan speaks out in defense of the idea of ​​​​resubordinating Karabakh to Armenia.

On February 13, 1988, the first rally takes place in Stepanakert, at which demands are made for the annexation of NKAO to Armenia. The Board of Directors created in NKAO, which included the heads of large enterprises in the region and individual activists, decides to hold sessions of city and district Councils, and then convene a session of the regional Council of People's Deputies. On February 20, an extraordinary session of people's deputies of the NKAO appeals to the Supreme Councils of the Armenian SSR, the Azerbaijan SSR and the USSR with a request to consider and positively resolve the issue of transferring the NKAO from Azerbaijan to Armenia. On February 21, the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee adopted a resolution according to which the demand for the inclusion of Nagorno-Karabakh into the Armenian SSR is presented as adopted as a result of the actions of “extremists” and “nationalists” and contrary to the interests of the Azerbaijan SSR and the Armenian SSR. The resolution is limited to general calls for the normalization of the situation, the development and implementation of measures for the further socio-economic and cultural development of the autonomous region.

On February 22, a clash took place near the Armenian settlement of Askeran using firearms between groups of Azerbaijanis from the city of Agdam heading to Stepanakert “to restore order” and the local population. 2 Azerbaijanis died, at least one of them at the hands of an Azerbaijani policeman. More massive bloodshed was avoided that day. Meanwhile, a demonstration is taking place in Yerevan. The number of demonstrators by the end of the day reaches 45-50 thousand. The Vremya program touches on the topic of the decision of the regional Council of the NKAO, where it is called inspired "extremist and nationalist persons". This reaction from the central press only increases the indignation of the Armenian public. On February 26, a rally is taking place in Yerevan, in which almost 1 million people participate. On the same day, the first rallies begin in Sumgayit. On February 27, Deputy Prosecutor General of the USSR A.F. Katusev, who was then in Baku, appeared on television and reported on the death of two Azerbaijanis in a skirmish near Askeran that occurred on February 22.

On February 27-29, the Armenian pogrom takes place in the city of Sumgait - the first massive outbreak of ethnic violence in modern Soviet history. According to official data from the USSR Prosecutor General's Office, 26 Armenians and 6 Azerbaijanis died during these events (Izvestia, 03/03/1988). Armenian sources indicate that these data are underestimated. Hundreds of people were injured, huge numbers were subjected to violence, torture and abuse, and many thousands became refugees. There was no timely investigation into the causes and circumstances of the pogroms, identification and punishment of provocateurs and direct participants in the crimes, which undoubtedly led to an escalation of the conflict.

The resolutions of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the CPSU, adopted in March 1988 regarding the interethnic conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Okrug, did not lead to stabilization of the situation, since the most radical representatives of both conflicting sides rejected any compromise proposals. The majority of members of the regional Council of People's Deputies and the regional party committee supported the demands for the transfer of NKAO from Azerbaijan to Armenia, which were formalized in the relevant decisions of the sessions of the regional council and the Plenum of the regional party committee, headed by G. Poghosyan. In NKAO (especially in Stepanakert), a massive ideological indoctrination of the population unfolded - daily crowded marches, rallies, strikes by collectives of enterprises, organizations, educational institutions region with demands for separation from Azerbaijan.

Created informal organization- the “Krunk” committee, which was headed by the director of the Stepanakert construction materials plant Arkady Manucharov. Its stated goals are to study the history of the region, its connections with Armenia, and restore ancient monuments. In fact, the committee takes on the functions of an organizer of mass protests. By decree of the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan SSR, the committee was dissolved, but it continued its activities. A movement to support the Armenian population of NKAO is growing in Armenia. A “Karabakh” committee has been created in Yerevan, whose leaders are calling for increased pressure on government bodies with a view to transferring the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Okrug to Armenia. At the same time, calls continue in Azerbaijan for “decisive restoration of order” in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Okrug. Social tension and national enmity between the Azerbaijani and Armenian populations are increasing every day. In summer and autumn, cases of violence in NKAO become more frequent, and the mutual flow of refugees increases.

Representatives of the central Soviet and state bodies of the USSR are sent to NKAO. Some of the identified problems that have been building up in the national sphere for years are becoming public. The Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR urgently adopted the Resolution “On measures to accelerate the socio-economic development of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1988-1995.”

In May 1988, on the initiative of the Shusha district committee of the CPSU, the deportation of the Armenian population from Shusha began. June 14, 1988 The Supreme Council of Armenia agrees to the inclusion of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region into the Armenian SSR. On June 17, 1988, the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan decides that Nagorno-Karabakh should remain part of the republic: “In response to the appeal of the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR, the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan SSR, based on the interests of preserving the existing national-territorial structure of the country, enshrined in the Constitution of the USSR “, guided by the principles of internationalism, the interests of the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples, other nations and nationalities of the republic, considered the transfer of NKAO from the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenian SSR impossible.”

In July 1988, multi-day strikes by collectives of enterprises, organizations, educational institutions, and mass rallies took place in Armenia. As a result of a clash between protesters and soldiers of the Soviet Army at Yerevan Zvartnots airport, one of the protesters was killed. Catholicos Vazgen I addresses on republican television with a call for wisdom, calm, a sense of responsibility of the Armenian people, and to end the strike. The call remains unheard. Enterprises and organizations have not been operating in Stepanakert for several months, processions and mass rallies are held every day through the streets of the city, the situation is becoming increasingly tense. As Izvestia correspondents report, strong support is coming from Armenia - hundreds of people leave for Yerevan every day and, conversely, come to Stepanakert (for this purpose, an air bridge has been organized between these cities, the number of flights sometimes reaches 4 - 8 per day).

As of mid-July, about 20 thousand people (more than 4 thousand families) left Armenia for Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan is trying to normalize the situation in areas where Azerbaijanis live densely in Armenia. Refugees from Azerbaijan continue to arrive in the Armenian SSR. According to local authorities, as of July 13, 7,265 people (1,598 families) arrived in Armenia from Baku, Sumgait, Mingachevir, Kazakh, Shamkor and other cities of Azerbaijan.

On July 18, 1988, a meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was held, at which the decisions of the Supreme Councils of the Armenian SSR and the Azerbaijan SSR on Nagorno-Karabakh were considered and a Resolution on this issue was adopted. The Resolution noted that, having considered the request of the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR dated June 15, 1988 for the transfer of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region to the Armenian SSR (in connection with the petition of the Council of People's Deputies of the NKAO) and the decision of the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan SSR dated June 17, 1988 On the unacceptability of the transfer of NKAO to the Armenian SSR, the Presidium of the Supreme Council considers it impossible to change the borders and the national-territorial division of the Azerbaijan SSR and the Armenian SSR established on a constitutional basis.

In September 1988, a state of emergency and curfew were introduced in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region and the Agdam region of the Azerbaijan SSR. In Armenia, the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR decided to dissolve the Karabakh Committee. However, attempts by party and government bodies to calm the population have no effect. In Yerevan and some other cities of Armenia, calls continue to organize strikes, rallies, and hunger strikes. On September 22, the work of a number of enterprises and urban transport in Yerevan, Leninakan, Abovyan, Charentsavan, as well as the Etchmiadzin region was stopped. In Yerevan, military units, along with the police, are involved in ensuring order on the streets.

In November - December 1988, mass pogroms took place in Azerbaijan and Armenia, accompanied by violence and killings of civilians. According to various sources, pogroms on the territory of Armenia lead to the death of 20 to 30 Azerbaijanis. According to the Armenian side, in Armenia, as a result of crimes on ethnic grounds, 26 Azerbaijanis died in three years (from 1988 to 1990), including 23 from November 27 to December 3, 1988, one in 1989, two in 1990 . At the same time, 17 Armenians died in clashes with Azerbaijanis in Armenia. In Azerbaijan, the largest Armenian pogroms occur in Baku, Kirovabad (Ganja), Shemakha, Shamkhor, Mingachevir, and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. A state of emergency has been introduced in a number of cities in Azerbaijan and Armenia. At this time there was the largest flow of refugees - hundreds of thousands of people on both sides.

In the winter of 1988-1989, the deportation of the population of Armenian villages in rural areas of the AzSSR was carried out - including the northern part of Nagorno-Karabakh (not included in the NKAO) - the mountainous and foothill parts of the Khanlar, Dashkesan, Shamkhor and Gadabay regions, as well as the city of Kirovabad (Ganja) . At the end of these events, the Armenian population of the Azerbaijan SSR is concentrated in the NKAO, Shaumyanovsky district, four villages of the Khanlar region (Getashen, Martunashen, Azad and Kamo) and in Baku (where it decreased from approximately 215 thousand to 50 thousand people during the year) .

Baltics

In the Estonian SSR, on August 23, 1987, about two thousand supporters of Estonian independence gathered in Tallinn’s Hirve Park to commemorate the next anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentropp Pact.

September 26, 1987 in the newspaper of the Tartu city committee of the Estonian Communist Party “Edasi” ( "Forward") a proposal for economic autonomy for Estonia within the USSR was published, which received significant support in society. A corresponding program was developed, called Economically independent Estonia(est. Isemajandav Eesti, abbreviated IME(MIRACLE)).

On April 13, 1988, during a television talk show, Edgar Savisaar proposed the creation of a Popular Front (est. Rahvarinne) - a socio-political movement that was supposed to contribute to the goals of Gorbachev's perestroika. Such a Popular Front was created.

On June 3, 1988, the “Lithuanian Movement for Perestroika” was created in the Lithuanian SSR, which became known as Sąjūdis.

On June 10-14, 1988, over one hundred thousand people visited the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds. The events of June-September 1988 went down in history as the “Singing Revolution”.

On June 17, 1988, the delegation of the Communist Party of Estonia at the 19th Party Conference of the CPSU made a proposal to transfer additional powers in all spheres of social, political and economic life to republican authorities.

On September 11, 1988, the musical and political event “Song of Estonia” was held at the Song Field in Tallinn, which brought together about 300,000 Estonians, that is, about a third of the Estonian people. During the event, a call for Estonian independence was publicly voiced.

Economy

By the mid-80s, all the problems of the planned economy that existed in the USSR worsened. The artificially caused shortage of consumer goods, including food, has intensified. The sharp decline in oil export revenues has led to a shortage of foreign currency for imports, including consumer goods. Budget revenues from oil exports decreased by 30% in 1985-1986. According to a number of authors, the USSR's lag in the development of knowledge-intensive sectors of the economy was increasing. Thus, A. S. Narignani wrote in 1985: “The situation in Soviet computer technology seems catastrophic. ... The gap separating us from the world level is growing faster and faster... We are close to the point that now we will not only not be able to copy Western prototypes, but will generally be unable to even keep track of the world level of development.”

At the April 1985 Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, the economic and social problems existing in the USSR were openly announced for the first time. According to M. S. Gorbachev, the country was in a pre-crisis state. The situation is particularly difficult in agriculture, where product losses were about 30%. During the procurement and transportation of livestock, 100 thousand tons of products were lost annually, fish - 1 million tons, potatoes - 1 million tons, beets - 1.5 million tons. At the April Plenum, emphasis was placed on technical re-equipment and modernization of production, accelerated development above all mechanical engineering as the basis for the re-equipment of the entire national economy (the so-called “acceleration”).

The “Intensification-90” program adopted in 1986 provided for the accelerated development of the consumer goods sector by 1.7 times compared to other branches of mechanical engineering and, to a certain extent, was a continuation of previous reforms. At the same time, imbalances in investment policy led to the undermining of non-priority industries.

In addition to this, in initial period During perestroika, several poorly thought-out decisions were made. In May 1985, the Decree of the CPSU Central Committee “On measures to overcome drunkenness and alcoholism” was issued. This decision was aimed at resolving both social and economic problems, primarily labor discipline, and was supposed to contribute to the growth of labor productivity and its quality. It was planned to reduce the production of vodka and other alcoholic beverages by 10% per year. By 1988, the production of fruit and berry wines was to be discontinued. These measures led to a decrease in mortality in the country, their economic effect was negative and was reflected in more than 20 billion losses in budget revenues, but several million lives were saved.

At the beginning of 1986, the XXVII Congress of the CPSU took place, at which a number of economic and social programs were adopted, providing for new investment and structural policies. In addition to “Intensification-90”, it was planned to implement such long-term programs as “Housing-2000” and others.

On November 19, 1986, the USSR Law “On Individual labor activity“On February 5, 1987, the Council of Ministers of the USSR issued a resolution “On the creation of cooperatives for the production of consumer goods.” On May 26, 1988, the USSR Law “On Cooperation in the USSR” was adopted, which allowed cooperatives to engage in any types of activities not prohibited by law, including trade.

On January 13, 1987, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted Resolution No. 48, which allowed the creation of joint ventures with the participation of Soviet organizations and firms from capitalist and developing countries.

On June 11, 1987, Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 665 “On the transfer of enterprises and organizations in sectors of the national economy to full self-financing and self-financing” was adopted. On June 30, 1987, the USSR Law “On State Enterprise (Association)” was adopted, redistributing powers between ministries and enterprises in favor of the latter. Products produced after the government order was completed could be sold by the manufacturer at free prices. The number of ministries and departments was reduced, and self-financing was introduced into all sectors of the national economy. However, granting labor collectives of state-owned enterprises the right to elect directors and granting enterprises the power to regulate wages led to the dependence of enterprise directors on the decisions of labor collectives and an increase in wages that was not ensured by the availability of an appropriate volume of goods on the consumer market.

One of the positive results of economic transformations was the cessation of the decline in the growth rate of national production and labor productivity in the mid-80s. This was largely determined by the growth of investments, which, however, was accompanied by an increase in the budget deficit, which in 1985 amounted to 17-18 billion rubles, and in 1986 almost tripled. The deficit was partly caused by a decrease in foreign exchange earnings, the ongoing Afghan war, the Chernobyl tragedy and losses from the anti-alcohol campaign, but the main reason for the reduction in budget revenues was the gradual decline in the share of profits of enterprises and organizations allocated to the state (the corresponding figure decreased from 56% in 1985 to 36% in 1989-1990).

Even more radical reforms were planned for the period after the 19th Party Conference in 1988.

The production volumes of consumer goods were much lower than the huge money supply, since they were based on fairly conditional estimated periods and consumption volumes. Buyers instantly snapped up the goods on store shelves. A situation has arisen of “empty shelves and full refrigerators and packed apartments.” Any more or less high-quality product that hit store shelves was sold in a matter of hours. A significant mass of non-food products actually ceased to enter the official trade and were sold by trade workers through acquaintances or through “farmers.” This problem became worse with the permission of private trade, which was effectively carried out by cooperatives. Confusion began with allied supplies; some republics, in particular Ukraine, stopped shipping meat and milk to Moscow, Leningrad, and the military department. In the capital itself the picture was generally depressing. Hundreds of thousands of residents from almost all of central Russia arrived daily by train in Moscow and literally stormed grocery stores. They grabbed everything that was on the counters, loaded with shopping bags, with heavy backpacks on their backs and headed to the stations.

Foreign policy

Having come to power, M. S. Gorbachev set a course for improving relations with the United States. One of the reasons for this was the desire to reduce exorbitant military spending (25% of the USSR state budget).

However, his first meeting with US President Ronald Reagan in Geneva in the fall of 1985 resulted in a non-binding solemn Declaration of No Tolerance nuclear war. On January 15, 1986, the “Statement of the Soviet Government” was published, containing a program for nuclear disarmament by the year 2000. The USSR called on the leading countries of the world to join the moratorium on nuclear weapons that had been observed by the Soviet Union since the summer of 1985. nuclear tests and phase out the reduction of various types of nuclear weapons.

Soviet policy in Afghanistan was subject to some adjustments, where the USSR replaced the country's leadership in May 1986. The new PDPA General Secretary M. Najibullah proclaimed a course towards national reconciliation and adopted a new Constitution, according to which he was elected president of Afghanistan in 1987. The Soviet Union sought to strengthen the position of the new leadership in order to subsequently begin the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country.

In October 1986, a meeting between Soviet and American leaders took place in Reykjavik, which marked the beginning of a new foreign policy course for the USSR. M. S. Gorbachev proposed to R. Reagan to eliminate all medium-range missiles, while the Soviet Union made greater concessions than the United States. Although the initiative of the Soviet leadership was not supported by the American side, this statement had a great international resonance.

In 1987, the Warsaw Pact countries developed a new, purely defensive military doctrine, providing for a reduction in unilaterally weapons to the limits of “reasonable sufficiency”. Resistance to the new course foreign policy individual representatives of the military leadership were prevented by a purge in the army after the unhindered landing on May 28, 1987 of the plane of German citizen Matthias Rust on Red Square. On May 30, 1987, Army General D. T. Yazov became the new Minister of Defense, replacing S. L. Sokolov in this post.

The main ideas of the new foreign policy course were formulated by Gorbachev in his book “Perestroika and New Thinking for Our Country and for the Whole World,” published in 1987. According to Gorbachev, all ideological and economic differences between the world systems of socialism and capitalism must give way to the need to protect universal human rights. values. In this process, leading countries must sacrifice their interests in favor of small countries, the common goals of peace and détente due to the fact that in order to survive in nuclear age mutual goodwill is needed.

In addition to M. S. Gorbachev himself and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR E. A. Shevardnadze, a major role in the development and implementation of the concept of “new thinking” was played by A. N. Yakovlev, who since September 1988 held the position of Chairman of the CPSU Central Committee Commission on International Affairs politicians.

Since 1987, the intensity of the confrontation between the USA and the USSR began to decline sharply, and in the next 2-3 years the confrontation completely subsided. However, the weakening of the confrontation was achieved largely due to the compliance of the Soviet leadership. M. S. Gorbachev and his entourage made significant concessions when concluding the Short-Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (signed on December 8, 1987 at a meeting between R. Reagan and M. S. Gorbachev in Washington); their passivity contributed to the overthrow of communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe in the second half of 1989; in particular, they did not interfere with the unification of Germany.

1989-1990

Domestic policy

In March 1989, elections were held for the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, the first elections of the highest authority of the USSR in which voters were given a choice between several candidates. Discussion of election programs (including on television debates) became a genuine breakthrough towards freedom of speech and real political struggle.

The First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR opened on May 25, 1989. On the very first day of the Congress, it elected Gorbachev Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The meetings of the congress were broadcast on television, and many citizens of the USSR closely followed them.

On the last day of the Congress, in a relative minority, radical deputies formed the Interregional Group of People's Deputies (group co-chairs: A. D. Sakharov, B. N. Yeltsin, Yu. N. Afanasyev, G. Kh. Popov, Anatoly Sobchak, V. Palm ). They advocated accelerating political and economic transformations in the USSR, for a radical reform of Soviet society, and in relation to their opponents - deputies who voted in accordance with the line of the CPSU Central Committee - they used the stable phrase “aggressively obedient majority.”

On December 12 - 24, 1989, the Second Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR took place. At it, the radical minority, which was headed by Yeltsin after the death of Sakharov during the Congress, demanded the abolition of Article 6 of the USSR Constitution, which stated that “the CPSU is the leading and directing force” in the state. In turn, the conservative majority pointed to the destabilizing disintegration processes in the USSR and, consequently, to the need to strengthen the powers of the center (the “Union” group).

In 1989, the first significant miners' strike in the USSR began in the city of Mezhdurechensk.

In February 1990, mass rallies were held in Moscow demanding the abolition of Article 6 of the USSR Constitution. Under these conditions, Gorbachev, during the break between the Second and Third Congresses of People's Deputies of the USSR, agreed to the abolition of Article 6 of the Constitution, while simultaneously raising the issue of the need for additional powers of the executive branch. The III Congress on March 15, 1990 abolished Article 6, adopted amendments to the Constitution allowing a multi-party system, introduced the institution of the presidency in the USSR and elected M. S. Gorbachev as President of the USSR (as an exception, the first President of the USSR was elected by the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, and not by popular vote) .

In March 1990, elections were held for people's deputies of the union republics (elections to the Supreme Councils of the Baltic republics took place earlier, in February 1990) and for local Councils of People's Deputies.

With the adoption of the “USSR Law of October 9, 1990 No. 1708-1 on public associations,” it became possible official registration political parties other than the CPSU, the first of which were the DPR, SDPR and RPRF registered by the Ministry of Justice of the RSFSR on March 14, 1991.

In the RSFSR, unlike other republics, a two-tier system of legislative bodies was created, similar to that existing at the level of the Union - people's deputies at the Congress elected a permanent Supreme Council from among themselves. In the elections of people's deputies of the RSFSR, supporters of radical reforms, united in the “Democratic Russia” bloc, achieved significant success. The number of deputies who at the Congresses of People's Deputies of the RSFSR in 1990-91 voted in support of radical reforms in at least 2/3 of cases was 44% (in some important votes - more than half), and the share of conservative communists was 39- 40%.

On May 14, 1990, the First Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR opened. On May 29, after voting three times, he elected B. N. Yeltsin Chairman of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR (B. N. Yeltsin received 535 votes, A. V. Vlasov - 467 votes).

On June 12, 1990, with 907 votes in favor and only 13 votes against, the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR adopted the “Declaration on the State Sovereignty of the RSFSR.” It declared that “to ensure political, economic and legal guarantees of the sovereignty of the RSFSR, the following is established: the full power of the RSFSR in resolving all issues of state and public life, with the exception of those that it voluntarily transfers to the jurisdiction of the USSR; the supremacy of the Constitution of the RSFSR and the Laws of the RSFSR throughout the territory of the RSFSR; the effect of acts of the USSR that conflict with sovereign rights RSFSR, is suspended by the Republic on its territory.” This marked the beginning of a “war of laws” between the RSFSR and the Center.

On June 12, 1990, the USSR Law “On the Press and Other Media” was adopted. It prohibited censorship and guaranteed freedom for the media.

The process of “sovereignization of Russia” leads on November 1, 1990 to the adoption of the Resolution on the Economic Sovereignty of Russia.

During the period under review, various parties were formed. Most parties operated on the territory of one union republic, which contributed to the strengthening of separatism in the union republics, including the RSFSR. The majority of the newly formed parties were in opposition to the CPSU.

The CPSU was experiencing a serious crisis during this period. The XXVIII Party Congress (July 1990) led to the withdrawal of its most radical members, led by Yeltsin. The size of the party in 1990 decreased from 20 to 15 million people, the Communist parties of the Baltic states declared themselves independent.

The IV Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR approved constitutional changes that gave Gorbachev additional powers. There was an actual resubordination to the President of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, now renamed the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR. The post of Vice-President was introduced, to which the Congress elected G.I. Yanaev. Instead of V.V. Bakatin, B.K. Pugo becomes the Minister of Internal Affairs, E.A. Shevardnadze as Minister of Foreign Affairs was replaced by A.A. Bessmertnykh.

Economy

In 1989, a new Government of the USSR was formed, headed by N.I. Ryzhkov. It included 8 academicians and corresponding members of the USSR Academy of Sciences, about 20 doctors and candidates of science. The new Government initially focused on the implementation of economic reforms and fundamentally different management methods. In this regard, the structure of the Government changed significantly and the number of line ministries was significantly reduced: from 52 to 32, that is, by almost 40%.

In May 1990, N.I. Ryzhkov spoke at a meeting of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR with a report on the economic program of the Government. Ryzhkov outlined the concept of transition to a regulated market economy developed by the “Abalkin Commission”. It included price reform. This speech led to an emergency situation in Moscow trade: while Ryzhkov was speaking in the Kremlin, everything in the city was sold out: a month's supply of vegetable and butter, a three-month supply of pancake flour, 7-8 times more grain than usual was sold, instead of 100 tons of salt - 200 .

A wave of rallies swept across the country demanding not to raise prices. Mikhail Gorbachev, who repeatedly promised that prices in the USSR would remain at the same level, distanced himself from the government program. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR postponed the implementation of the reform, inviting the Government to finalize its concept.

In June 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the Resolution “On the concept of the transition to a market economy,” and in October 1990, “The main directions for stabilizing the national economy and the transition to a market economy.” The documents provided for gradual demonopolization, decentralization and denationalization of property, the establishment of joint-stock companies and banks, and the development of private entrepreneurship.

In December 1990, the government of N.I. Ryzhkov was dismissed. The Council of Ministers of the USSR was transformed into the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR, headed by Prime Minister V.S. Pavlov. But the activities of the Cabinet of Ministers in 1991 boiled down to a twofold increase in prices from April 2, 1991 (they, however, remained regulated), as well as to the exchange of 50- and 100-ruble banknotes for banknotes of a new type (Pavlov’s Monetary Reform). The exchange was carried out over only 3 days on January 23-25, 1991 and with serious restrictions. This was explained by the fact that shady businessmen allegedly accumulated huge sums in large banknotes.

The USSR economy in 1991 was experiencing a deep crisis, which was expressed in an 11% decline in production, a 20-30% budget deficit, and a huge external debt of $103.9 billion.

Nationalism and separatism

Armenia and Azerbaijan

On May 27, 1990, an armed clash occurred between Armenian “self-defense units” and internal troops, resulting in the death of two soldiers and 14 militants.

middle Asia

The pogroms of Meskhetian Turks in 1989 in Uzbekistan are better known as the Fergana events. At the beginning of May 1990, a pogrom of Armenians and Jews took place in the Uzbek city of Andijan.

Chronology of events

1985

• May 7, 1985 Resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers “On measures to overcome drunkenness and alcoholism, eradicate moonshine.”

1986

• May 23, 1986 Resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers “On measures to strengthen the fight against unearned income.”
• On November 19, 1986, the USSR Supreme Council adopted the USSR Law “On Individual Labor Activity”.

1987

• May 6, 1987 The first unauthorized demonstration of a non-governmental and non-communist organization - the Memory Society in Moscow.
• On June 25, 1987, the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee considered the issue “On the party’s tasks for a radical restructuring of economic management.”
• June 30, 1987 The USSR Law “On State Enterprise (Association)” was adopted.
• July 30, 1987 The “Law on the procedure for appealing to the court against unlawful actions of officials” that infringe on the rights of a citizen was adopted
• August 1987 For the first time, unlimited subscription to newspapers and magazines.

1988

• March 13, 1988 Article by N. Andreeva in “Soviet Russia” - “I cannot compromise on principles”
• May 26, 1988 The law “On Cooperation in the USSR” was adopted.
• June 28 - July 1, 1988 XIX All-Union Conference of the CPSU, which adopted resolutions “On some urgent measures for the practical implementation of the reform of the country’s political system”, “On the progress of implementing the decisions of the XXVII Congress of the CPSU and the tasks of deepening perestroika”, “On the democratization of Soviet society and reform of the political system", "On the fight against bureaucracy", "On interethnic relations", "On transparency", "On legal reform".
• July 28, 1988 Decrees of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces “On the procedure for organizing and holding meetings, rallies, street processions and demonstrations in the USSR” and “On responsibilities and rights internal troops Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR in the protection of public order."
• September 5, 1988 The trial of Yu. M. Churbanov and others began (September 5 - December 30).
• September 30, 1988 - At the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, the largest “purge” of the Politburo since Stalin’s times takes place.

1989

• January 1989 The first free nomination of candidates to the people's office began. dep. THE USSR.

1990

• Spring 1990 The “Law on Property in the USSR” was adopted

Events after perestroika

International changes

• Withdrawal of medium- and short-range missiles from Europe
• Nuclear weapons reduction
• Collapse of the USSR
• Collapse of the socialist camp and the Warsaw Pact (according to the Protocol on the complete termination of the Treaty on July 1, 1991)
• Unification of Germany followed by withdrawal of Soviet troops
• End of the Afghan War with the withdrawal of Soviet troops (February 15, 1989)
• Restoration of diplomatic relations with Albania (July 30, 1990) and Israel (January 3, 1991)

Introduction of democratic freedoms

• Freedom of speech.
• Glasnost, abolition of censorship.
• Pluralism of opinions.
• Freedom of movement of citizens abroad.
• Introduction of pluralism of power and abolition of the one-party system.
• Allowing private entrepreneurship and private property.
• Ending the persecution of Russian Orthodox Church and other religious organizations.

National conflicts, wars and incidents

• Zheltoksan
• Karabakh war
• Sumgayit pogrom
• Khojaly massacre
• Georgian-Abkhaz conflict
• South Ossetian conflict
• Civil War in Georgia
• Civil war in Tajikistan
• Chechen conflict
• Transnistrian conflict
• Ossetian-Ingush conflict
• in Uzbekistan (conflict with Meskhetian Turks)
• in Kyrgyzstan (conflict in Fergana)

Changes in the economy and domestic life

• Anti-alcohol campaign in the USSR 1985-1987.
• The spread of cooperatives, and subsequently the introduction of free enterprise
• USSR miners' strike in 1989
• Currency reform of 1991 (Pavlovsk reform)
• Washing out of goods from stores, and subsequently hyperinflation
• Reducing the country's gold reserves tenfold
• Economic growth fell from +2.3% in 1985 to a recession (decline) of -11% in 1991
• Devaluation of the national currency from 0.64 rubles per US dollar to 90 rubles per US dollar
• Increase in external debt at least three times,

Changes in the CPSU

• Withdrawal of “elders” from the Politburo (09/30/1988)
• Withdrawal of “elders” from the CPSU Central Committee (04/24/1989)

Disasters

Since the beginning of perestroika in the USSR, natural and man-made disasters have received great public attention, although sometimes with serious delays due to attempts by party structures to hide information:

• July 10, 1985 - Tu-154 of Aeroflot airlines (flight Tashkent-Karshi-Orenburg-Leningrad), entering a tailspin, crashed near the city of Uchkuduk (Uzbekistan). 200 people died. This is the largest plane crash in terms of the number of victims that occurred on the territory of the USSR.
• April 26, 1986 - Chernobyl accident - several dozen died from radiation, 200 thousand people were displaced
• August 31, 1986 - shipwreck of the steamship Admiral Nakhimov 423 dead
• December 7, 1988 - Earthquake in Spitak 25,000 dead
• June 3, 1989 - Train accident near Ufa 575 dead
• April 7, 1989 - sinking of the nuclear submarine "Komsomolets" 45 dead

Terrorist attacks

On March 8, 1988, the Ovechkin family hijacked a Tu-154 plane flying from Irkutsk-Kurgan-Leningrad.

Criticism

There are several versions of why perestroika did occur. Some scholars argue that perestroika was largely a breeding ground for property grabs by the Soviet elite, or nomenklatura, who were more interested in "privatizing" the state's vast fortune in 1991 than in preserving it. Obviously, actions were carried out from both one side and the other. Let us dwell in more detail on the second catalyst for the destruction of the Soviet state.

One of the possible versions is even put forward that the Soviet elite actually had a minuscule amount in comparison with what the elite of the poor banana republics have, and in comparison with what the elite of developed countries owns. Based on this, it is argued that even in Khrushchev’s times, part of the party elite set a course for changing the Soviet system, with the goal of turning from managers into owners of state property. Within the framework of this theory, no one planned to create any free market economy.

Some researchers (for example, V.S. Shironin, S.G. Kara-Murza) see the victory of perestroika primarily as a product of the activities of Western intelligence services, which, with the help of their extensive network of “agents of influence” and external pressure, cleverly exploited the shortcomings and miscalculations in the economic and state building of the USSR for the destruction of the Soviet Union and the entire socialist camp. “Agents of influence” acted according to the scenario described by V. M. Molotov back in the early 1930s: “ they sought to plan individual industries in such a way as to achieve the greatest disproportion between them: they reduced planning assumptions and exaggerated difficulties, invested excessively in some enterprises and retarded the growth of others. By making ineffective expenses and immobilizing capital, ... they hoped to lead the Soviet state to a financial crisis and the breakdown of socialist construction A".

The Soviet way of life developed under the influence of specific natural and historical circumstances. Based on these circumstances, the generations that created the Soviet system determined the main selection criterion - the reduction of suffering. On this path, the Soviet system achieved world-recognized successes; the main sources of mass suffering and fear were eliminated in the USSR - poverty, unemployment, homelessness, hunger, criminal, political and ethnic violence, as well as mass death in a war with a stronger enemy. For this, great sacrifices were made, but already in the 60s, stable and growing prosperity arose. An alternative criterion was the criterion of increased pleasure. The Soviet way of life was created by generations who endured difficult trials: accelerated industrialization, war and reconstruction. Their experience determined the choice. During perestroika, its ideologists convinced the politically active part of society to change their choice - to follow the path of increasing pleasures and neglecting the danger of mass suffering. We are talking about a fundamental change, which is not limited to a change in the political, state and social structure (although it is inevitably expressed in them)

Although this choice was not directly formulated (more precisely, attempts to formulate it were suppressed by the leadership of the CPSU, which determined access to the podium), the statements associated with it were very transparent. Thus, the demand for a massive flow of funds from heavy industry to light industry acquired the character not of an economic decision, but of a fundamental political choice. The leading ideologist of perestroika, A. N. Yakovlev, stated: “ What is needed is a truly tectonic shift towards the production of consumer goods. The solution to this problem can only be paradoxical: to carry out a large-scale reorientation of the economy in favor of the consumer... We can do this, our economy, culture, education, the whole society has long since reached the required starting level».

The reservation that “the economy has long since reached the required level” was not checked or discussed by anyone; it was immediately discarded - it was only about a tectonic shift. Immediately, through the planning mechanism, a sharp reduction in investment in heavy industry and energy was carried out (the Energy Program, which brought the USSR to the level of reliable energy supply, was discontinued). Even more eloquent was the ideological campaign aimed at curtailing the defense industry, created in the USSR precisely on the basis of the principle of reducing suffering.

This change in the criterion for living conditions contradicted the historical memory of the Russian people and the insurmountable restrictions imposed by geographical and geopolitical reality, the availability of resources and the level of development of the country. To agree to such a change was to reject the voice of common sense. (S. G. Kara-Murza, “Manipulation of Consciousness”)

The following statistics support the above theory:

The ideologists of perestroika themselves, who are already retired, have repeatedly stated that perestroika did not have any clear ideological basis. However, some activities dating back to at least 1987 cast doubt on this view. While at the initial stage the official slogan remained the common expression “more socialism,” a latent change in the legislative framework in the economy began, which threatened to undermine the functioning of the previous planned system: the actual abolition of the state monopoly on foreign economic activity (for example, Resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers of December 22, 1988 No. 1526 “on approval of the regulations on self-supporting foreign trade organizations...”), revision of the approach to the relationship between government bodies and production enterprises (USSR Law “On State Enterprise (Association)” dated June 30, 1987).

Methodological approaches to the analysis of perestroika

The Marxist theory of socio-economic formations, as it was interpreted in the USSR, was based on the presence of a universal development scheme for all countries and peoples, which meant the successive replacement of primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist, socialist, and communist formations. Moreover, each subsequent formation was declared more advanced than the previous one. This scheme allowed that certain peoples could bypass or not know this or that social formation, but all of them, in one way or another, moved along a given path. But the transition from socialism to capitalism does not fit into this scheme.

The events that took place in the USSR after 1985 led to the fact that many of those who adhered to the formational approach abandoned it and turned to the search for other theoretical approaches to the historical process. Those who remained faithful to this orthodox Marskyist approach (representatives of the communist and nationalist camps) assessed the historical changes that had taken place as “unnatural” and resorted to explanations designed to prove the “artificial” nature of the collapse of socialism in the USSR. They see the reason for what happened in the machinations of the United States, and the “agents of influence” of the United States in the USSR itself. This theory can be classified as a conspiracy theory due to its failure to acknowledge the real and underlying causes of events.

According to many representatives of Western Marxist thought, the method of replacing the capitalist formation with a socialist one, which was realized in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, does not correspond to the teachings of Marx and is in blatant contradiction with it. A striking example of such an interpretation can be the works of the American socialist Michael Harrington. He wrote that Marx considered the transition from a capitalist formation to a socialist one as possible only if all the material and spiritual prerequisites for this had matured. But October Revolution 1917 in Russia grossly violated this fundamental postulate of Marxism and the result was sad: “the socialization of poverty could only establish a new form of poverty.” Instead of overcoming the alienation of workers from the means of property, political power, and spiritual values, the regime that triumphed in Russia imposed new forms of alienation and therefore Harrington defined it as “anti-socialist socialism.” From these assessments it is concluded that the collapse of socialism in the USSR is a consequence of an attempt to jump over historical stages the replacement of capitalism with socialism and post-Soviet countries must go through those stages of “maturation” to socialism that the Bolsheviks tried to avoid. Moreover, such a prominent Marxist theorist as Karl Kautsky wrote back in 1918 in connection with the revolution in Russia: “Strictly speaking, the ultimate goal for us is not socialism, but the destruction of every type of exploitation and oppression, regardless of class, gender or race...In this struggle, we set the socialist mode of production as our goal because, under modern technical and economic conditions, it is the best means of achieving our goal.If we could be shown that we are mistaken and that the liberation of the proletariat and humanity can be achieved in general and even more expediently on the basis of private ownership of the means of production, as Proudhon already thought, then we would reject socialism, without at all rejecting our final goal. Moreover, we would have to do this in the interests of it. Democracy and socialism differ not in that the former is a means , and the second is the end; both are means to the same end."

Proponents of modernization theory point out that Soviet leaders involuntarily recognized Western civilization as the most advanced, at least technologically and economically, and therefore the USSR tried to copy Western technological and organizational models. During perestroika, it became clear that the possibilities for reform and ensuring progressive development on a socialist basis for the USSR had been exhausted, and as a result, the need arose to borrow capitalist mechanisms, as well as the democratic structure of the state.

In works of art

• The famous Russian emigrant philosopher Alexander Zinoviev wrote the book “Catastroika” in the 1990s, in which he described the process of the collapse of the centuries-old Russian state called the USSR. After the book’s publication, the term “catastrophe” began to be used in the Russian media to refer to perestroika itself.